11' X 17" COLOR PRINTER IN USA

[Anonymous]

My printer feeder gave out the week and I am having a hard time finding reviews of what to replace it with. I like the 11" x 17" color format for ArchiCAD 3D views and quick plans etc to the client. Any one got a recommendation to fill that need ?
Thanks

[Anonymous]

have a look at CANON'S PIXMA series

[Rex Maximilian]

I am really happy with the Epson R2400. 13x19, 8 (to 9) inks for extremely high photo quality prints. About $900 SRP. Sometime you can get them with a $75 rebate.

[Dwight]

Just got an Epson 3800 that has a 17" carriage width and the extra black inks for fine photography. Around $1300. but with $600. worth of ink pre-installed - representing a bargain in my book....

I do quite a volume of printing here and appreciate the economy of individual ink replacement.

Top quality. Fast. Quiet.

You get spoiled printing 17x22" construction documents from it.

[Thomas Holm]

Dwight wrote:
Just got an Epson 3800 that has a 17" carriage width and the extra black inks for fine photography. Around $1300. but with $600. worth of ink pre-installed - representing a bargain in my book....

Ink cost is significant. In my country, Canon's ink costs tend to be lower than both Epson's and HP's. Worth checking out.

But if you want the speed of a laser, it gets more expensive if you want color with quality. For lasers, good quality needs true PostScript, no emulation. We have a KonicaMinolta bizhub C352 11x17 copier/printer/scanner with a Fiery PostScript RIP. Expensive, but the quality is worth it.

[Karl Ottenstein]

I've had the Canon i9100 for several years. (It's out of production now.) It is (was) a 6 ink printer, up to 13 x 19 page size. Fast, clean for line drawings, and fantastic photo results on photo paper. Ink is reasonable in individual tanks, but I have guilt about all of the plastic in the cartridges since there is no convenient recylcing chanel here.

The comparable current model is said to be way better according to reviewers: Pixma Pro9000. Only $309 after rebate at amazon with free shipping at the moment. Amazing:
http://www.amazon.com/Canon-Pro9000-Professional-Printer-9995A001/dp/B000J1HPK8/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8...

This is an 8 ink printer.

I would upgrade, except my old i9100 is still doing just fine.

Karl

[Rex Maximilian]

The R2400 has the swappable matte black/glossy black cartridge as well.

B&W photos (good ones that are created properly using channel mixing) are STUNNING! Even high contrast color photos on enhanced matte paper are incredible.

I'm sure Dwight's is a larger version of this one. I have another ink-jet just for general stuff, like everyday print and ArchiCAD plots.

[Anonymous]

But if you want the speed of a laser, it gets more expensive if you want color with quality. For lasers, good quality needs true PostScript, no emulation. We have a KonicaMinolta bizhub C352 11x17 copier/printer/scanner with a Fiery PostScript RIP. Expensive, but the quality is worth it.

Agree with Thomas, although networkable color 11 x 17 lasers are expensive; the speed, low toner cost per copy (ie full color 11 x 17 = 10 cents), colorfastness, and other features sure make them nice. We got a Xerox MR24 Workcentre about a year ago as the primary copier/printer/fax/scanner for the office and sure don't regret it. The ability to scan and email as a pdf to any workstation sure make getting almost anything into ArchiCAD easy.

This "laser" photo montage was output on photo quality paper as large as could be printed on 11 x 17 for each image. Matted and framed it was nearly 3' x 4' and only those who know can tell it's not "real" photos.

Dave

[Dwight]

Just a note that i got a promotion for the Epson 3800 today. Now it is a 17" wide inkjet for only $1250!!!!!

[KeesW]

I've got an HP9860 (A3) as one of our printers. It is fast, very good quality and not very expensive. I'd recommend it.

My previous printer was an Epson 3000 (A2). Good printer but terrible drivers - Epson never updated them after Windows 2000 - even though this printer remained in production well into the Windows XP era. I couldn't continue using it because because of inconsistent performance - apparently due to dodgy drivers. If you are considering an Epson, check driver availability and their update policy.